With multiple product updates all arriving at once, many might have been overwhelmed by Apple's MacBook launch to overlook potentially important features and limitations -- including the need to log out to switch graphics chips and the multiple party tricks of the new 24-inch Cinema Display.

MacBook and MacBook Pro

While Apple's new MacBook Pro potentially delivers longer battery life by switching to integrated video instead of its more powerful discrete chipset, Apple notes in a support document that users can't just flick a switch and trigger the new mode.

Instead, changing energy preferences to favor either better battery life (with the GeForce 9400M) or faster performance (with the 9600M GT) prompts the notebook's owner to log out and back in for the change to take effect. It's not known whether disconnecting or reattaching power makes the switch automatically.

On the upside, however, the glass trackpad has brought about a major overhaul of Apple's control options for its multi-touch gestures. As tested by Gearlog earlier on Tuesday, the surface is now much more customizable: long-time owners clinging to pre-defined surface controls can specify a particular point of the pad that serves as a right-click. It's also possible to use a two-finger tap to right-click or to hold them and use them to zoom into a too-small portion of the display.

The four-finger gestures are hardwired to Expose (up and down) and to the app switcher (left and right).

And while many will find much to complain of with glossy displays and missing FireWire on the 13-inch model, some buyers may yet have surprises in store.

When comparing the features of the 2GHz and 2.4GHz MacBooks, Apple chief Steve Jobs described only the 2.4GHz model as having a backlit keyboard. Those ordering the basic model, however, are still asked to choose between backlit-only keyboard options. Whether this is a simple website error or a last-minute upgrade hasn't been confirmed.

Also up in the air is the memory ceiling. Officially, Apple supports no more than 4GB. However, the DDR3 notebook memory necessary for an upgrade is readily available in individual 4GB sticks, theoretically permitting a well-heeled owner to load the MacBooks with as much as 8GB of RAM. Without posted support documents or technical information from NVIDIA, though, it's difficult to tell whether it's an artificial or hard-coded limit Apple mentions.

24-inch LED Cinema Display

Apple's first DisplayPort monitor actually underuses the specification. Although it shares HDMI's ability to pipe audio alongside the video signal, Apple doesn't enable the speakers, iSight camera or mic until the USB cable is plugged into a notebook.

That speaker system is 2.1-channel -- indicating the presence of a subwoofer.

So far, Apple is the only company to include a built-in power connector to recharge a notebook without resorting to its distinct power supply.

The firm is unusually cautious in its display claims. In spite of the LED backlighting and modern panel, Apple lists a comparatively modest 1,000:1 contrast ratio and a 14ms typical pixel response time. Most LCD display makers usually try to shrink this last figure by quoting only the very quick gray-to-gray times rather than white-to-black or other more realistic performance levels.

DisplayPort should play a role in all Macs going forward, so the Cinema Display should be usable with all upcoming Macs for the foreseeable future.

Apple execs at the event's Q&A

As is often the case at Apple's on-campus events, executives held a question and answer session with the press to address lingering concerns after the event.

In Tuesday's discussion, Apple cleared the air regarding Blu-ray, which was briefly rumored to be part of the new MacBook update but didn't materialize in the end. Notably, company co-founder Steve Jobs didn't address the HD format's absence in technical terms or as a matter of interest in defending iTunes. Instead, licensing hurdles have played the central role.

"Blu-ray is a bag of hurt. I dont mean from the consumer point of view," Jobs said at the event. "Its great to watch movies, but the licensing is so complex. Were waiting until things settle down, and waiting until Blu-ray takes off before we burden our customers with the cost of licensing."

Separate questions also justified Apple's other technical decisions for the MacBook series. Even though it's favorable for home theaters, HDMI was left out as it normally doesn't support the 30-inch Cinema Display's 2560x1600 resolution. The company also resisted using a matte display by insisting that LED meant more light would pass through and overcome the gloss; a hinged display and portability also help.

NVIDIA should also play a larger role in Apple's platform for the future.

And in a preemptive strike against likely jittery investors looking for reassurances, Jobs began the Q&A by immediately stating that his blood pressure measured 110 over 70 -- and that he wouldn't discuss his health beyond that point.

Can someone please explain what the new alternative is for transferring files between a MacBook and another computer? How are we expected to proceed without FireWire? USB doesn't work, so what are we supposed to do??

What a weird year. Apple is little behind their usual plans. Its always giant precise steps. This year, there's things all over the place. 17' Macbook Pro is a mystery. White macbook is still here. iPhone problems with no real Push yet. Some funny things with pricing and not so much consistency. Is Apple becoming too big? Well if yes, they better hire new people and pay more to their employees.

The classic apple would have refreshed WHOLE line of Notebooks, not in chunks. Same with Cinema Displays. I think its gonna be so awkward to see new 24' with old 30' Displays. I am sure customers will ask all these questions.

Classic apple would have at least dropped 30' Display out of sale untill new one came in. And it will be very..VERY hard to power a 30inch LED Cinema Display. Good luck.

So to recap:
After 4 years of same technology and same notebooks, we still have closely the same thing. Ohhh. Little bit surprised. I expected mind blowing new technologies that would kill the market, but looks like Sony, Lenovo and Toshiba are catching up by copying very fast.

While Apple's new MacBook Pro potentially delivers longer battery life by switching to integrated video instead of its more powerful discrete chipset, Apple notes in a support document that users can't just flick a switch and trigger the new mode.

Instead, changing energy preferences to favor either better battery life (with the GeForce 9400M) or faster performance (with the 9600M GT) prompts the notebook's owner to log out and back in for the change to take effect. It's not known whether disconnecting or reattaching power makes the switch automatically.

This will probably be implemented properly in Snow Leopard.
The current implementation appears to be a stop-gap measure.

On another note...
Apple has increased the price of its Display Adapters.

Can someone please explain what the new alternative is for transferring files between a MacBook and another computer? How are we expected to proceed without FireWire? USB doesn't work, so what are we supposed to do??

Thanks.

Migration assistant works over a wired or wireless network. Not the best solution, but it works.

Also up in the air is the memory ceiling. Officially, Apple supports no more than 4GB. However, the DDR3 notebook memory necessary for an upgrade is readily available in individual 4GB sticks, theoretically permitting a well-heeled owner to load the MacBooks with as much as 8GB of RAM. Without posted support documents or technical information from NVIDIA, though, it's difficult to tell whether it's an artificial or hard-coded limit Apple mentions.

I believe the fastest 4GB SODIMM RAM are 667MHz DDR2. Not even in 800MHz, muchless 1066MHz DDR3.

Quote:

"Blu-ray is a bag of hurt. I dont mean from the consumer point of view," Jobs said at the event. "Its great to watch movies, but the licensing is so complex. Were waiting until things settle down, and waiting until Blu-ray takes off before we burden our customers with the cost of licensing."

"How do you tell someone, that you care about, deeply, I told you so. Gently? With a rose? In a funny way? Like it's a hilarious joke? Or do you just let it go. Because saying it would just make it worse. [...] Probably the funny way."

Quote:

NVIDIA should also play a larger role in Apple's platform for the future.

They better deliver or I will not be buying another Mac. NVIDIA's boistrous claims that turn out out be hot air have not made me a fan.

Quote:

And in a preemptive strike against likely jittery investors looking for reassurances, Jobs began the Q&A by immediately stating that his blood pressure measured 110 over 70

I figured 110 was Tuesday's stock high and 70 is their Q4 projections.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jarhead

I think the new Cinema Display would be perfect for a new Mac Mini! It would eliminate the "brick" power supply and make for a nice, clean setup.

The Mac Mini could get a silent update in a couple weeks that would allow for the MagSafe adapter. it would be a perfect fit. I wonder what the width of the new ACD base is?

The Mac Pro could also get a new GPU option that allowed for a DP option without any fanfare, but I think that the desktops may have to wit until January before we see them updated. Hopefully they'll have a new 30"+ ACD like the new 24" ACD ready.

Quote:

Originally Posted by merdhead

With regards to the memory, the question is if the chipset supports more than 4GB of memory.

I would bet that the modern chipset that NVIDIA is using surely does support 8GB RAM, but the problem is that 4GB DDR3 RAM don't yet exist.

Quote:

Originally Posted by iedsri

Can someone please explain what the new alternative is for transferring files between a MacBook and another computer? How are we expected to proceed without FireWire? USB doesn't work, so what are we supposed to do?

USB works great for cabled connections, Flash drives and external HDDs. You also have 10/100/1000BASE-T, 802.11a/b/g/n and optical discs (which I now I have to deal with for the next 3-4 years before Apple finally gets rid of them).

Quote:

Originally Posted by iVlad

What a weird year. Apple is little behind their usual plans. Its always giant precise steps. This year, there's things all over the place. 17' Macbook Pro is a mystery.

If they were still doing a stamping process it would be more mysterious, but programming a machine to tool a chunk of aluminum preciously does seem like a daunting task. It makes sense that Apple started with the most commonly sold and popular Mac notebooks first. Hopefully they will get it worked out before too long.

Quote:

White macbook is still here.

They mow have a quality machine at a lower price. Not exactly cheap and still about $200-$250 more than the average PC sale, but I think the pricepoint is good for Apple to atract new buyers and maintain a solid profit margin. The economic situation may warrant a lower price, but once you go less expensive it's hard to go more expensive once the economy changes, so this really is best for Apple and its stockholders.

Quote:

iPhone problems with no real Push yet

My mobileSafari crashes constantly when trying to type, but my iPhone's Push works great. The only aspect of Push that isn't instantaneous is when I make a change from my Mac or PC, but my iPhone Push is pristine.

Quote:

Some funny things with pricing and not so much consistency. Is Apple becoming too big? Well if yes, they better hire new people and pay more to their employees.

That is a good question! As much as i like the unification and wish Sony would communicate with it's various divisions more, Apple does seem to need some major changes to maintain their growth rate.

Quote:

The classic apple would have refreshed WHOLE line of Notebooks, not in chunks. Same with Cinema Displays. I think its gonna be so awkward to see new 24' with old 30' Displays. I am sure customers will ask all these questions.

1) I don't think the tech is available yet to refresh everything at once.
2) Remember what happened back in July when Apple released MobileMe, iPhone 3G, OS X iPhone 2.0, and the App Store all within 24 hours of each other? I'd say the "FUBAR" acknowledgment by Jobs and the staggering of both the recent iPod update and this new Mac notebook update could be a testament to Apple actually eating some humble pie and learning from its mistakes.

Quote:

Classic apple would have at least dropped 30' Display out of sale untill new one came in. And it will be very..VERY hard to power a 30inch LED Cinema Display. Good luck.

I'm not sure I follow you. You are suggesting that Apple take the FW-iSSight route and just not offer the product at all? The camera wasn't that big of a deal though I got 3x the price I paid for mine on eBay), Apple would loose a lot of their 30" ACD business to other vendors if they did that. Also, would LED backlight 30" ACDs use less power than the current ones while offering a brighter and better image?

Quote:

So to recap:
After 4 years of same technology and same notebooks, we still have closely the same thing. Ohhh. Little bit surprised. I expected mind blowing new technologies that would kill the market, but looks like Sony, Lenovo and Toshiba are catching up by copying very fast.

1) They have NIVIDIA chips that may out perform the rest of the market (need to wait on independent testing).
2) They have the future-forward DisplayPort
3) They have 5 hour batter life in their notebooks (need to wait for independent testing to verify)
4) A multi-gesture trackpad with multiple possiblities, when Synaptic is just now trying to get Windows and Windows apps to utilize the new multi-gesture drivers they recently announced, while Apple has been using it for a year.
5) THe new case design (but I still need some technical breakdowns as to how this benefits the average user)
6) Brighter and better displays
7) All aluminium case that employees a tazer when a user password is typed incorrectly too many times.
8) Retinal scanner via the iSight camera & palm print identification via the glass trackpad.

Dick Applebaum on whether the iPad is a personal computer: "BTW, I am posting this from my iPad pc while sitting on the throne... personal enough for you?"

So, could DisplayPort be used for firewire? Is gigabit ethernet really slower than FW-400 for transferring files? (Couldn't Apple enable a target disk mode over ethernet?)

I'm actually starting to warm up to the lineup. Prices are higher than I would want, but it is a pretty good strategic decision. As for all the people griping about the lack of firewire in the MB... I think back to the 12" PB G4. It was nice looking, but missing a few important things for me.

I'm not sure how they will do it, but it looks like firewire is not going to be the solution long term.

So, could DisplayPort be used for firewire? Is gigabit ethernet really slower than FW-400 for transferring files? (Couldn't Apple enable a target disk mode over ethernet?)

I'm actually starting to warm up to the lineup. Prices are higher than I would want, but it is a pretty good strategic decision. As for all the people griping about the lack of firewire in the MB... I think back to the 12" PB G4. It was nice looking, but missing a few important things for me.

I'm not sure how they will do it, but it looks like firewire is not going to be the solution long term.

I do hope they make TargetMode available by other means. I know of no technical reasons why it has to be FW. It's not something you think about or use often, but it sure is nice to have when you do need it.

Dick Applebaum on whether the iPad is a personal computer: "BTW, I am posting this from my iPad pc while sitting on the throne... personal enough for you?"

Ethernet is the most logical choice; just make the target computer act as as DCHP server and convert the machine to a network share.

They do make USB-A to USB-A cables with built -in bridge chips, but having a simple hub could work. Butyou're right, that isn't the easiest soltuion. Ethernet is. The port itself will determine which is the Rx and Tx so you don't need to worry about crossover cables for a direct connection. I think the only thing you have to do is turn on file sharing.

Dick Applebaum on whether the iPad is a personal computer: "BTW, I am posting this from my iPad pc while sitting on the throne... personal enough for you?"

1) They have NIVIDIA chips that may out perform the rest of the market (need to wait on independent testing).
2) They have the future-forward DisplayPort
3) They have 5 hour batter life in their notebooks (need to wait for independent testing to verify)
4) A multi-gesture trackpad with multiple possiblities, when Synaptic is just now trying to get Windows and Windows apps to utilize the new multi-gesture drivers they recently announced, while Apple has been using it for a year.
5) THe new case design (but I still need some technical breakdowns as to how this benefits the average user)
6) Brighter and better displays
7) All aluminium case that employees a tazer when a user password is typed incorrectly too many times.
8) Retinal scanner via the iSight camera & palm print identification via the glass trackpad.

Thank you for answering all my questions. I guess being little sad or mad makes your forget all the other wonderful things about Apple. =)

There is a VERY good reason why they don't make regular USB-A to USB-A cables (though Linksys did use them for their Wi-Fi adapters about 7-10 years ago).
Connecting one computer directly to another computer through their USB ports would fry both their motherboards. Hence, the USB crossover cables that allow you to do this safely, IF you can find one. Even so, USB only supports 33Mb/s throughput, so Gigabit Ethernet is the only way to go with any useful speed.

Ethernet is the most logical choice; just make the target computer act as as DCHP server and convert the machine to a network share.

This assumes both Macs are bootable. Many a time I've used Target Disk Mode to repair/rescue a Mac whose HD was on the fritz. If the OS is fried, sometimes other data can be accessed. Or DiskWarrior can revive it. That's something no WiFi or Ethernet connection can provide.

I will strongly encourage all I advise to avoid the FireWire-less MacBooks. They look good now, but they'll look like crud the moment I tell an owner "No, I can't get your data off. I could have if you'd gotten this other model though..."

Can someone please explain what the new alternative is for transferring files between a MacBook and another computer? How are we expected to proceed without FireWire? USB doesn't work, so what are we supposed to do??

This assumes both Macs are bootable. Many a time I've used Target Disk Mode to repair/rescue a Mac whose HD was on the fritz. If the OS is fried, sometimes other data can be accessed. Or DiskWarrior can revive it. That's something no WiFi or Ethernet connection can provide.

I will strongly encourage all I advise to avoid the FireWire-less MacBooks. They look good now, but they'll look like crud the moment I tell an owner "No, I can't get your data off. I could have if you'd gotten this other model though..."

Remove the access cover, pop out the hard drive, plug it in to the other machine. SATA -> USB adapters run about $15 and really come in handy.

Someone asked about touchscreens and if they make sense, and Steve said no, not right now

-"Can we see a netbook from Apple soon? and does the 17" MacBook Pro come out with the rest of them?" Steve says 17" is around now, but it's not updated like the new ones are updated. Steve says netbooks are a new market and "we'll see how it goes."

And a pressing thought, will the new MacBook Pros be able (via a firmware upgrade I would suppose), once Snow Leopard is released, to run video output on one GPU & run OpenCL stuff on the other GPU AT THE SAME TIME...?!?

That could be a good selling point.

And, as I mentioned in another thread...

Can we get the OS to recognize 'zones' in regards to display focus & input devices (keyboard/trackpad/mouse). So if I am reading email on the laptop display, the laptop keyboard & trackpad are 'focused' on activities on the laptop display only.

Same for the 24" display, I want the OS to recognize that I have video spanning on and regulate the extension display to input from an attached USB keyboard & mouse.

Almost like running a laptop & a desktop side-by-side, but the laptop is the only machine there, with the attached 24" LED Cinema Display serving as seperate workspace.